Our pre Covid cuddly GP practice has now gradually turned into a fortress , manned by an army of “receptionists “ who sole purpose is to stop annoying needy patients, from getting a face to face appointment with a GP.
Should anyone seek medical advise , you have to ring between 8am - 11am to get a econsult form to complete. These are limited and should you ring later you will have to try again the next day.
If you’re lucky enough to get a slot you then need to complete this ridiculous form, where you are required to submit your reasons for having the temerity to request help.
This form consists of a long list of possible illnesses requiring a yes no answer, and then almost at the end you are quizzed on how much you drink and smoke .
Once completed , which takes over 10 minutes you are allowed to submit the econsult form, and this should get you on the list for a triage nurse/doctor for a call back within 48 hours.
So you wait clutching your phone for 2 days pertrified in case they ring , and you’ve have died and missed the call. They cannot guarantee a call back .
So my recent experience was that after the allotted 48 hours had passed , guess what ? I did not get a call back.
So I actually went to down to the surgery , just to ask who would be ringing me? big mistake on my part as it turned out
A mature lady receptionist , who I think was just a lance corporal , responded to me by throwing her arms up in the air shouting “ How should I know?” taken aback , I asked if this was the doctors surgery ?
This conversation took its inevitable downward spiral as she clearly had no intention of helping me . So much so that she eventually jumped up and said” I have had enough of this” and left the desk, saying she had had a day of it and was leaving.
Another more senior receptionist took over reluctantly , and then told me to speak to my doctor if I was unhappy "….. if only that was possible I replied.
The surgery was deserted apart from an equally unhappy lady with a small child and this was at 6.00pm. She joined in my frustration calling out words borne from similar experience.. like, this is shite here and it’s all useless etc
I went down the corridor where the doctors rooms were , calling out “ is there a doctor in the house “ , but alas there was none …. a day or two at A&E probably looms .
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Comments
Thankfully my work provides a really good private medical insurance scheme with online GP’s. I can see a GP anytime of the day within 15 minutes of requesting a consultation, they can get me a referral and I can speak to a specialist (online) straight away and within a couple of days I’m being treated. I don’t expect the NHS to be at that level, but it should be so much better than it is for the money we pay.
Haven't the energy to post our issues locally on here but will gird my substantial loins & do so in a day or so.
And don't get me started on 111.....
It's taken 11 weeks to get this far - where I know what's wrong, and we can now plan the way forward - but other than refer me, the doc has done very little.
It's an absolute disgrace that people can't see a doctor when they need to
The Receptionist and staff are the equivalent of the Wall in GOT, ye shall not pass as we don't want your mucky germs in our nice clean surgery.
Its e consults only at 8am on the dot, and a few weeks ago I spent 10 mins completing it along with a picture of a rash which was shingles only then to find out because I'd answered one question honestly (should have lied!) that my form could not be accepted and i should ring the surgery at 8.30am!
By this time my blood pressure was boiling and that got worse when all the world and his mate were ringing at 8.30am. I finally got through only to meet Attilla the Hun on the other end who insisted on me completing another econsult over the bloody phone!
By this time I'd actually forgotten why I was ringing, it was infuriating.
I never saw a GP, only a phone call but when my wife went to the surgery to collect my prescription she said the car park was full but guess what... There was not one person in the waiting room! All the cars belonged to the staff.
I'd rather pay to see a Doctor and not get this dreadful service.
I think GP really means Generally Pointless!
I've been into the surgery on many occasions since then, picking up forms, urine sample bottles etc. Do you know what I haven't seen (other than a doctor)? Patients. Whatever time of the day I go into the surgery, there's never anyone in the waiting room. And yet, it's impossible to get an appointment in less than several weeks. Absolute disgrace!
I read about a 90 year old who not unsurprisingly had a challenge with online nature of all this and was told he could go to the surgery to collect a form. So he had to get a taxi to and from the surgery just to get and complete the feckin form to request to see a doctor, which assuming (and hoping) he got the required appointment, he'd have to go back to the surgery again.
And it could get worse at surgeries that aren't exempt from the NI hike
The only difference is I don't need to ring to complete an e consult.
The e consult is available online.
It takes about 20 mins to complete with ridiculously irrelevant questions.
Eg you have a bad toe and it will ask if you have chest pains etc.
They aim to get back to you within 48 working hours but there's only a 50/50 chance of that happening.
They really don't want to SEE you and if I'm ever up there 3 monthly to collect a blood test form there are never any patients waiting.
NB This may be of use as son went down with tonsillitis, went to pharmacy and was prescribed penicillin (would have been lucky to get that via GP before Xmas).
Don't know what surgery you are registered at but ours is getting to be like the one in the OP. It too runs a triage system where the list closes when it's full, could be as early as 10am, and once it's full you have to try again the next day. In my experience though once on the list you do get a call back but normally from a Nurse Practicioner etc, very rarely a Doctor. Must say though that the Receptionists are very helpful but obviously there are some things you may not want to discuss with them.
I saw a GP and she was excellent, gave me a prescription for the immediate problem, but referred me for an ultrasound scan, which I had a week later. The ultrasound was OK but confirmed a hernia which has been referred to the hospital. It's not considered urgent so I now await an appointment.
I have nothing but praise for my GP surgery.
Sounds like you had a good experience. I've been told by a few people with hernia's that they no longer operate to remove them unless they are strangulated.
Pharmacy was good for anti biotics on a walk in basis last year (sinusitis).
Self referral for a couple of muscular skeletal issues has been the best thing, cutting out GP altogether. Msk Bexley run clinics in Erith and Sidcup.
Talking therapy self referral is another option nationwide but over 6 month wait there for me in Bexley currently. More urgent cases (related to anxiety and depression) are hopefully seen a lot more quickly or via GP/a&e. That's run by Mind in Bexley.
Fortunately for me I've not needed more urgent appointments but do pre-book GP appts just in case once I have treatment underway then cancel if not needed.
Still on the whole very unhappy with the NHS. Lost blood tests has been one of my biggest issues. And care for the elderly without digital access, a whole heap of stress and lack of services for so many.
Primary care is broken. It's also the root cause of so many other problems across the system. Sorting that and adding I'm proper community care, prevention services and adult social care will transform our health service. It will take minimum a decade but its possible. The trouble is you essentially have to dual run 2 systems for that time while you treat the people who should have recieved prevention or early community intervention and therefore are needing more and longer care whilst also implementing the prevention and community care to set up the new system.
First stage has to be reviewing/ending the private GP contract. We can no longer allow them to operate as businesses doing what they want. We have to start opening NHS GP surgery's and then phase out the old ones. That way information sharing will be a million times better care will be linked up properly with the other services and we won't allow family rich doctors to cream money off the top of the NHS.
It's not perfect in that they get you to go through a nurse or pharmacist as the first point of call but often they are able to help anyway and send you for tests etc. The other issue is if you have an ongoing issue you get no continuity of care as you speak to someone different every time. But it's better than the battles of a regular GP surgery
Few years back went to the surgery to see what they had done with my prescription, guy in front of me was having a row with the receptionist, he suggested that the did not have enough doctors, the response from the receptionist was that they certainly had enough doctors but they just had too many patients!
Been up the hospital 10 days on the trot now.
On the ward I've been visiting 1 bloke has been waiting 2 days to be discharged.
Patients not being on the correct wards they should be on for over a week.
Seriously ill mental Patient on same ward as someone with a terminal illness.
I was up there last night and the ward was like something out a horror movie.
My sympathies - but all of this boils down to the same thing: Pay more tax if you want better services. It's not rocket science.